1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image communication apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus and, more particularly, to an image communication apparatus which comprises an ink-jet printer having a plurality of ink ejection ports.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, an ink-jet printer for ejecting an ink toward a recording medium from ejection ports using bubbles generated by heat energy to record characters, images, and the like has been developed. This printer has the following features. That is, a heat generation resistor (heater) arranged in each ejection port is considerably smaller in size than a piezoelectric element used in a conventional ink-jet printer, and hence, multiple ejection ports can be arranged at high density. In addition, a high-quality recording image can be obtained, and a high-speed, low-noise apparatus can be provided.
On the other hand, a facsimile apparatus is required not only to merely transmit an image at high speed but also to receive a high-quality image at high speed. An ink-jet printer for ejecting an ink toward a recording medium using bubbles generated by heat energy can be considered as one which can satisfy these requirements due to the above-mentioned features.
In an ink-jet printer of this type, ink ejection ports of a recording head are often clogged by ink whose viscosity is increased due to an unused recording head, a low-humidity environment, a difference in recording frequency, or the like, or attachment of dust. Thus, an ejection recovery operation for discharging viscosity-increased ink from the interior of the ejection ports of the recording head under pressure, or drawing an ink by suction via a cap for covering the ejection ports of the recording head to protect them, is executed. Even during a recording operation, since ink ejection frequencies of the ejection ports are not uniform, an ejection port which is not used at all is often present. Thus, an ejection port which is not so frequently subjected to ink ejection may become clogged. Since this clogging leads to degraded image quality, ink ejection recovery processing must be executed at a predetermined cycle.
In particular, a communication terminal apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus must often stand by all day long, and a trigger and a timing for performing preservation processing and recovery processing of an ink-jet recording head must be automatically determined by a special means in addition to a manual operation by an operator.
Furthermore, when a facsimile apparatus including an ink-jet printer is to be realized, if a plurality of pages are to be received, a printing operation must be stopped between adjacent pages, and ejection ports of a recording head must be prevented from being dried and clogged.